Italian Seasoning

Sometimes you want comfort food. Chicken Parmesan is one of my favorites but sometimes you don’t want to go through all of the steps. I am going to give you some shortcuts so you can have comfort food without spending all day in the kitchen.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put 1 Tablespoon of Olive in a glass 9″ X 13″ glass dish. In a ziplock bag, place two Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive oil in a Ziplock bag. Add the seasonings. Mix well. Add the Chicken Breast Filets and make sure they are coated well. Put the pan in the oven and allow the Extra Virgin Olive Oil to heat up. Put the Coated Chicken Breast Filets in the pan and place on a center oven rack. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Drain the juices from the chicken. Return the chicken to the pan. Cover the chicken with the Parmesan Cheese. Put the Marinara Sauce over the Chicken Filets and place the Grated Mozzarella Cheese on the top. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 15 to 20 minutes. The cheese should be melted and the sauce heated through.

If there are any leftovers you will have a wonderful lunch or another dinner. That’s all for today. Until next time…From our Butcher Block to your Table.

I realize I hae been absent from the Blog world for awhile. I went from Christmas to New Year’s to Orthodox Christmas. Then I was brain dead, and didn’t feel I could contribute anything worthwhile. Another problem is that I haven’t been cooking. I know many of you are shocked; However, my freezer was so full from past meals that I needed to bring out the “surprise” meals so I could fit the ice cream into the freezer. I know, too much information. Is anyone else like me? When I put the meals in the freezer, I am certain I will know the contents so I don’t label them. How crazy is that? When the Butcher asks what we are having for dinner and I answer I don’t know, I am being totally honest. I can’t identify what I have taken out of the freezer so it will be a surprise to both of us. Well, I have to tell you about some of my successes. I had cooked a large pot of Roast Beef Stew. It had potatoes, carrots, onions and lots of meat. I froze several containers of it. I could identify this and I decided to make beef stew with dumplings for dinner. I thawed the Beef Stew. I was a little skeptical about the frozen potatoes, but if there is one thing you know about the Butcher’s Wife, I don’t like to waste food. I put the stew in a roaster pan, and made a little extra broth with my beef broth starter. I had this on medium to get it heated up and to bring the stew to a boil. Then I made my dumplings.

For another meal this week I thawed out soup I had made with sausage and noodles (a previous blog). Didn’t have a clue what it was when I pulled it out of the freezer. It was delicious as well.

I told the Butcher we were having Barbeque beef sandwiches tonight. I thought I had thawed out cooked Roast Beef. Turns out it was browned ground beef with onions. I added frozen sliced mushrooms, Italian Seasoning, Garlic and 2 cans of pureed tomatoes. It is now cooking in my crockpot for dinner tonight. The Butcher will be pleasantly surprised. Spaghetti is one of his favorites.

Until next time…From our Butcher Block (or Freezer, as the case may be) to your Table.